


Phantom Thief

by UmbranSerath



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fighting, I Don't Even Know, Inspired by Persona 5, M/M, Pokemon Battle, Theft, Vigilantism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-08 04:44:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21230015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbranSerath/pseuds/UmbranSerath
Summary: Kaito is an excellent thief, who's forced into bizzare situation. Leon is the Galarian Champion, who works hard to make sure that his brother gets everything he needs. Who can tell what might happen, when their paths cross.





	1. Thief's Way

**Author's Note:**

> Few words before we start. English is not my first langue, so it's possible that I made mistakes. As in the tags, this fanfic is heavily inspired by Persona 5, especially, Kaito's character and names of his pokemon, as well as later parts of the story. Please, forgive me for the quality of this fic. Idea for it came soon after the first trailer for SwSh was released. I have few chapters written already, so I'll try to update it regularly, until I get to the point, where I'll have write the story as it goes. And for both, the story and my writting, they're all over the place, you're welcome to critise. Last thing that I want to point out is that, the most of the story was created/written before the release of the games, so i kinda just made up the personalities of the characters shown in trailers.

"Here's your TM 35 and receipt, sir." The worker of the pokemart smiled to the man standing near the counter. He was wearing blue jeans, plain, white t-shirt and a black hoodie, with small backpack hanging from his shoulder.

"Thank you, have a good day." He answered, quickly grabbing his items.

"TM 35? That's Flamethrower, right? Don't you know, that Korrina doesn't use her Lucario in the Shalour Gym?" A girl walked up to the counter and turned to the worker. "Five Super Potions, please."

"Oh, no... It's a gift." The man reluctantly said. "I'm too old for challenging gyms."

"Hm, you don't seem old. And, does it even matter?" She looked at him with curiosity.

"Well, it'd be awkward for a 19 years old guy to start the journey now."

"Hey! Don't think like that." The girl looked at him. "I might be 11, but I know that sometimes it's worth to do things you want to do, even if you feel like it's not gonna work out or be weird."

"It will be 3500." The shopkeeper returned. "I apologize for overhearing your conversation. But, I believe that the young lady is right. It doesn't matter when you start."

The man put his hands into pockets of his jeans, as both the girl and worker smiled at him. "Unfortunately, I kind of have already settled my life."

The girl put potions into her bag, but before she could reply the man continued. "By the way. Do you happen to know where is the hotel?"

"Yes, I do." She headed towards the door. "It's on the way to the gym. I'm headed there right now actually. I can show you the way, if you want."

"Thank you. I'd appreciate it."

Both of them walked out of the Poke Center into light of the sun. Even though it was still a while to the sunset, shadows were already getting longer and longer.

"By the way…" The girl glanced at man beside her, as she started slowly walking. "That TM is rather expensive. You must have a great friend."

"Oh…" Man started scratching back of his neck. "Yea... She is."

"Oh! She?"

"Yea... She always helped me when I needed it." The man smiled. "She wanted to see this part of Kalos, so I saved some money and returned the favor."

"Ah... And TM? She likes battling?"

"Yes." The man chuckled. "Sometimes she can't stop talking about it."

They reached a high building, in front of which there was a group of people.

"That's the hotel." They stopped. "It is crowded. I think a famous detective is staying there. Everybody in Centre were talking about it.

"Oh, really?"

"His name is…" She hesitated. "John Callahan. I saw him on the news lately."

"Well, thank you for leading me here."

"No problem. My name is Selena."

"I'm Chris. Good luck with the gym." He said, while making a little bow to her.

The man glanced at the crowd, while the girl headed for the gym.

"I'm sorry, but what part of your plan not to bring any attention to us did you forget? Hm?! And what was that with the fake name? It sounded dreadful coming from you, Kaito." Words echoed in man's head, when Alakazam appeared right beside him.

"My dear, Arsene." He thought, while turning his head to the Tower of Mastery. "I believe that a little bit of someone's savings and lying won't hurt us, right? Especially, that we also found out what's with that crowd." He smirked, as he felt coins appear in his hand.

"Tch. You're lucky that my teleportation skills are extraordinary. Not to mention Carmen's talent, when it comes to hiding us with her illusions. But, now that we now that this detective is here we need to be careful."

Kaito glanced at his Zoroark, who seemed rather bored sitting on pavement right in front of his legs. 

"So… Do you plan on standing here forever? Or, can we actually move on to the next part of the plan?"

"Yea yea. I was just counting the money. There's less than 1000." He thought shoving the stolen money into his wallet and started walked into darker alley between buildings.

Kaito just barely managed to form his next thought, but Alakazam already confirmed that they were completely alone. His Alakazam knew Kaito for years and was used to telepathic communication between him and the rest of his team. It was much quicker and more effective than saying commands. It was also more secretive, which caused Kaito to prefer this way of communication, both in and outside of the battles.

"Carmen, could you conceal us?" Kaito looked at his Zoroark. Arsene immediately transferred his thought to her and she quickly nodded, as she got closer to them.

"Done." Kaito felt Arsene's thought.

He crouched down, took TM out of his backpack and inserted in reader of his pokedex. It's screen started to display footage of various pokemon using move Flamethrower.

"Hey. Could you focus on this for a while?" Kaito showed the device to Zoroark, who focused on the screen. 

"It's hard to believe that this piece of technological garbage is still working." Arsene glanced at the pokedex. "You truly do need to get yourself a new one."

"Fine… Right after we're done with the next job. We still have to prepare ourselves for it." He felt Zoroark nudging his hand. "You already got that?"

Carmen opened slightly her mouth as small flames appeared out of it. Kaito tensed up at the sight, gaining a worried gaze from Alakazam.

"Great. I always you knew that you are one of the smartests pokemons out there." He rubbed her head between her ears, with smile. "Everybody ready?"

"Yes. Of course, that we are." Arsene communicated as Kaito his pokedex and picked up the back pack.

"Well then. It's showtime."

When three of them walked out of the alley, Alakazam floated right behind his trainer, while Carmen flawlessly avoided bumping into people, while staying close to them. She seemed more energetic, excited to use her powers, which she was mastering for a long time.

Kaito smiled when he reached doors of the tower. One glance at nearby balcony and he already found himself there with his pokemon. His bond with Arsene allowed the flawless psychic connection. He didn't even need to form words in his thoughts. His intent alone was enough for Arsene to understand him.

Careful not to make a sound, the three made their way into main hall, where the giant statue of Lucario was located. Kaito sensed Arsene tensing at this sight.

"One of many reasons why I bought Flamethrower for Carmen."

"Like she had chance at surviving a hit from a Lucario."

Swiftly moving up the long staircase they reached a big, wooden, locked door. 

"That should be it. Is somebody there, Arsene?" Man said glancing at Alakazam, as Carmen walked closer to them.

Alakazam closed his eyes and focused. "There's no one in the whole tower… But I sense somebody outside of the tower, near the entrance."

Kaito reached into his pockets and pulled out a pokeball, out of which appeared Mimikyu. "Could you open the door for us, Milady?"

Without a sound, from underneath the rag, a shadow in shape of a hand, reached to the lock, phasing inside of it. After few seconds the wooden barrier was opened.

"Well done." Kaito whispered recalling Milady. After closing door they found themselves in a spacious room with cabinets and shelves all over walls. In the middle there was a single, big desk, on top of which were countless sheets of paper. At the opposite of the entrance there was staircase leading to another door, located higher. 

"I will see, where it leads." A thought escaped Arsene's mind.

"Let's get to work. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can move on." Kaito walked to the cabinets and after putting on rubber gloves, started shifting through their content. "Even though, we don't actually need it."

"It might be useful." Kaito immediately felt Alakazam in his his mind, despite the fact that Arsene wasn't in the room. "While robbing those traders in Galar, we will most probably end up having fight our way out or to the money… That is, if you do plan on doing that, of course."

"Oh... we will steal that money, don't you worry. But... Is it so hard to admit that you're dying to find out what it's like to mega evolve."

"This is purely a strategic decision."

"Is this why you were so eager to explore one specific area in whole Kalos, which coincidentally is known for having Mega Stones for Alakazams, even before we got that intel about companies doing the secret exchange in Galar? And you just so happened to stumble across Mega Alakazite on the floor."

"Why don't you focus like that on finding sixth team member and making a plan of theft." Arsene returned to the room and levitated near Kaito. "The staircase is a way to the rooftop."

"Great. And, I'm sure that this theft in Galar will go just as most of adventures went. We go in, Carmen hides us, you teleport us and the money out and people don't even know that they robbed… We do actually need to hurry…" Kaito glanced at his phone. "There's a cargo ship leaving for Galar in twenty minutes."

"By the way. After leaving the centre, you started telling that girl about your... friend. Should I be worried, that you see someone, nobody else is able to?"

"Oh, dear." Kaito smiled to Arsene. "You haven't driven me completely insane, yet. That was just… a story I made up on a spot. And besides we can call Carmen our friend, who loves battling, right?"

"So, why were you telling her that much?"

"Why not? I do need master the art of lying."

Carmen, who stayed near her trainer's legs this whole time suddenly jumped to the cabinet that he just opened. After few seconds of examination, she lifted the wall of the cabinet, revealing a hole in the brick wall. Inside there was a metal box.

"Kaito! Two people are coming!" Arsene alerted. 

"I can't open this. It has a complicated lock." He walked up to the desk, placing it there and releasing Milady. "Can you check if mega rings are there." The shadow arm appeared and soon after she confirmed the hypothesis. After his nod, she got to work. "If all goes well, Carmen will just cover us with illusions, while we stand in the corner and we won't have to…

"Yes, of course." The female voice came from the second side of the door. "It will be my pleasure to give you the mega ring."

"You said something?" Arsene glanced at him.

Without another word Kaito focused. With Milady opening the lock, he knew that a tough battle was awaiting them. Without second of delay, everyone prepared themselves. Kaito's thoughts pictured Carmen hiding them and she acted instantaneously. Arsene, Milady as well as Carmen and Kaito's face were hidden now.

Kaito's hand gripped another pokeball. He should be ashamed, yet when the doors creaked open, he feel exhilarated. He was going to get what he wanted, even if it meant battling. This is why he was training for years.

"What the?! Who are you?!" Korrina swiftly grabbed one of her pokeballs, releasing a Lucario.

Kaito's thought drifted to Milady working on the lock but almost immediately in his brain appeared information that she's close to opening it.

"What are you doing here?!" Korrina took the fighting position.

"I'm sorry. What is…" A male voice was heard.

"Johanna." Kaito let out a whisper, while releasing his pokemon. The room was suddenly filled with Noivern's furious roar, as she sensed her trainer's hostility towards the Lucario.

"Use…" Korrina started to shout the command, but was cut of by the violent wind of Hurricane, that sent Lucario straight to the wall.

The attack caused the door to close with a loud bang. Korrina covered her face with arms. At the same time box came unlocked.

Kaito recalled Milady and swiftly grabbed one of Mega Rings. Arsene silently headed toward the rooftop.

Korrina took our second pokeball, when suddenly the door opened, hitting her and knocking it out of her hand. Man quickly walked in and summoned Abomasnow.

"Do not move any…" The man started talking. Kaito smiled as Carmen jumped on the desk, still invisible to Korrina and the man, and summoned fire of the Flamethrower. He quickly turned his face to the door. The hot flames hit Abomasnow directly, causing both of the trainers to cover their faces. Before they could even react both Carmen and Johanna have been recalled, while Kaito was teleported to the middle of staircase to the roof.

"You didn't actually need to do that." 

"Oh, come on." Kaito smiled, while running. "It was supposed to be a showtime."

Soon they reached the rooftop. The sun has already set, darkness enveloping the city and the sea.

"There is one ship. Is that the one?" Alakazam thought of the sight. "And, how much time we have left before it departs."

"It seems so. The one to Galar was supposed to be the only one leaving the harbor tonight." Two of the looked at a distant ship. It was at least 2 kilometers away. "We still have 15 minutes."

"I will not be able to teleport you that far." Kaito felt Arsene's apology. 

"No problem." Kaito already formed a plan, which was read by Alakazam.

Both of them teleported to the middle of the height of the tower, blue energy surrounding them, slowing down their fall.

"Goemon. Get me to the ship." Kaito threw pokeball, when they reached the surface, Golisopod immediately appearing. Man recalled Arsene and grabbed one of Goemon's hands, just to be swiftly pulled into direction of the ship as he tried to get a better grip on his pokemon.

The water was cold, but it wasn't something Kaito couldn't handle. In the end it was the quickest way to get to the ship, while not being seen. Flying on Johanna there, would mean being seen by Korrina and that other trainer, which would lead to entire different problem. While swimming with Goemon, he was going to be concealed by the darkness.

Kaito's thoughts wondered to his next target, when he focused on holding his breath. Robbing two companies, doing secret exchange could lead both into unimaginable problems and unbelievable money, if he went unnoticed.

Suddenly he felt Goemon slowing down. Taking swift, deep breaths, he felt grateful that Golisopods, despite being slow on ground, are quite skilled and swift swimmers.

Recalling Goemon, he summoned both Arsene and Carmen, who immediately floated above water, held by Alakazam's psychic powers.

Instantly, he found himself on the main deck, hidden by Zoroark's illusions. 

"You know what." He glanced at his pokemon. "How about we look for some new clothes for me, here. Those are completely soaked in water."

"I do believe we were supposed to not bring any attention to ourselves."

"Oh, dear." Kaito smiled. "This is going to take at least few days. Do you want me to die of cold here?" He thought amused, while hiding Mega Ring into his backpack.

"You know one day you will get caught, just because you act like that." 

Kaito smiled and walked away, Carmen happily stepping right beside him.


	2. Right Place, Right Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one of many "world building" chapters. Truth be told, when I was planning, this fic started only as Kaito x Leon fic, but I went way over board with additional story.

"What you really need to become a powerful trainer is just one thing." Leon walked onto the stadium's field and slowly glanced at the audience. Then he looked into the camera, smiling and holding a soda in the hand. "And that is a refreshing bottle of Panta."

"Dear Arceus, those ads are getting more and more ridiculous." Whispered woman looking at the TV behind the shop's window. Her hair was blonde and short. She was wearing black trousers and elegant, blue shirt. A black purse was hanging from her hand. She started walking along the sidewalk with her arms crossed, where small Ralts was hidden.

"Hm… It's already late. Let's go home, Altair." She smiled to Ralts. In return, she felt his trust and sleepiness. She had gotten used to his empathic communication over years. When she received him from her family she dreamt of becoming a trainer on journey, but turns of events made her give up on her plan.

Now, at the age of 20, she was employed in a small business as secretary, usually also helping as tech support due to her talent as programmer. She was also given Rotom, she named Hadar, which helped her further develop her skills.

"Give us the money!" She flinched as she heard voice coming from dark alley across the street. She immediately felt anxiety but she realized that it wasn't said to her.

Rachel felt Altair's panic, but she looked around just to see that the sidewalk and road was empty. She quickly runned to the other side and hid around the corner to see what is happening in the alley.

She was her Rotom flying near her head. "Don't worry. I just need to see if somebody needs help."

She glanced into direction, where the voice came from, to see two people and a Machamp cornering a man who stood against the wall. She noticed that he had short, black hair and was wearing white t-shirt and jeans.

"Come on. Give us the money and you'll be fine." One of them said. 

"It's okay, Hadar. I'm gonna call the police now. Everything's gonna be ok." She told her Rotom, who was still floating near her. She also felt Altair's nervousness. "Everything's gonna be fi…"

"Is that so?" Rachel heard. She quickly glanced back onto them. 

"Are you trying to be funny?" One of the thugs picked up the bat.

Suddenly Machamp was sent flying to the other side with a bit of blue energy seen around him.

"What the hell?!"

"That's a bit disappointing." The man said, as his body suddenly started floating.

"What the actual…"

"Run!" The second thug screamed recalling Machamp. Both of them ran away.

The man returned to the ground and smiled. Rachel felt fear when she noticed that his face started to warp into different one. Suddenly she realised that near the man were Zoroark and Alakazam.

"Well done, Arsene." She heard him say.

Rachel hid again. She quickly came to conclusion that he must have been using Zoroark's illusion to hide his image.

She was still holding the phone in her hand. She glanced at it, as an idea came into her mind.

"Hadar, could you get into my phone?" Rotom quickly obeyed. "Please try to get a good picture of that man."

She held the phone into the alley and after few seconds she looked at it and noticed a set of pictures of that man.

Rachel felt Altair's anxiety turn into fear. "Don't worry. If something bad happens can you teleport us back here?" She whispered as she put him on the ground, when he nodded in agreement. She slowly took breath in and released it. She glanced at Altair. "In the end, we need a strong trainer like him."

"Hey!" She felt determination as she walked into the alley.. The man looked at her. Both of his pokemon already disappeared. She was sure that they were still there, only hidden.

"Hm? Did something happen?" The man's face was different than the one on the photos and he seemed genuinely confused.

"I know what you've done to that Machamp." Rachel tried to sound as fearless as she could.

"I'm sorry... What?" She noticed that he was taller than her and had a small backpack laying near his leg.

"Look. I'm pretty sure that you don't want to be noticed by anyone, right? Otherwise, why would you have Zoroark hide your face?"

"Uhh? What?"

"That." She said as held up her phone, displaying his photos.

She noticed that the man's expression changed. Now, she was certain that she was right.

"Look. I don't plan on revealing those photos to anyone. I will delete them… As soon as you help me out. A favor for a favor."

"Really?" His voice was still. Suddenly he disappeared. "And what if I was to..." She heard his voice right behind her. "Have my Alakazam erase your memory of that meeting and delete those photos."

Rachel felt genuine fear. "Before that could happen, my pokemon would teleport me out of here. Not to mention that my Roton in phone, would upload them to the internet and get them on every billboard, every computer and every monitor in Galar." She did everything she could not to show how scared she was.

After few seconds of silence the man said. "Hm… You're an interesting one. And what would that favor, you spoke of, be?

"I need to you scare some people off."

"And may I ask you why haven't you done it.?" She turned to him, as he took few steps back.

"Because those people have stronger pokemon and unfortunately I can't fight them." She felt embarrassment as she spoke.

"So… You don't have a combat trained pokemon and want me to scare some people off? What did they do to piss you off?" The man's face returned to looking like the one in the photos and his pokemon appeared by his side.

"They are trying to ruin my uncle's shop. They are threatening him that if he doesn't leave this city they will hurt him."

"The police. Does that word ring a bell?"

"They did nothing." She looked at him determined. "These people must have a teleporter. They just appear at the scene and disappear after they destroyed window or thing inside. All of them are masked so I couldn't do the same thing I did to you. I tried."

The man stayed silent for a while. "Well…" He sighed. "It appears I don't exactly have a choice, do I?"

Rachel smiled as she felt relief. "Thank you. Could you please take photos, or even better, a video of you fighting them?"

The man's expression immediately showed annoyance.

"Hadar. Please give him a way to send me that video with the address of the shop." Rotom quickly flied into the man's pocket. He took his phone out it, when Rotom flied back into her phone. "You'll send me the proof of you solving my problem and I'll delete those photos." She said proudly.

"Okay…" He looked at the screen of his phone. "Rachel."

"What?!" All of her courage disappeared as he said her name. 

"You need to work a bit on commanding your pokemon." He smirked. "You Rotom just saved you phone number as 'Rachel'. By your reaction, I assume that it is you name. Now, when those trainers are said to appear?"

"Uh… The deadline to leaving the city is the end of next week, but last time they broke the shop's windows and they just got replaced, so I think that they should appear tonight. At least that's what happened last two times."

"Okay then." He started walking past her. "You'll be hearing from me soon." He said as he and his pokemon vanished, teleporting away.

After a while of standing still, Rachel let out a sigh of relief. "See?" She said walking up to Ralts. "I told you everything was going to be fine." She smiled to him, while picking him up with shaking hands.

"It's late. Let's just go home. Our problems end tonight."


	3. Suspicion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens. In all seriousness, this is where the most of the plot starts. Next week's chapter will be a short one and from Leon's perspective, so I'm thinking about uploading it earlier, but we'll see. Meanwhile, I'll focus on writing future chapters of this fic and getting ready for another one, completely different from this one.

Kaito was sitting on a rooftop of a small office building. Carmen's head was resting on his thigh as he was slowly petting her soft fur, his eyes focused on building on the other side of the street.

"I still do not understand why you actually listened to her." Arsene stood near them. "I would have no problem knocking out that Ralts and Rotom."

"Something's fishy."

"What?"

"Something's not right about that entire story." Kaito glanced at Alakazam. "Her uncle's shop is a small place that sells souvenirs. Those guys seem to be too determined to get him out of the city."

"And why is it our problem?"

"It isn't." He smiled. "But I'm curious about what all of this is about."

"Just say that this girl impressed you."

"Tch…" Kaito scoffed. "She has some guts… But she also must be desperate to get help. Why else she would blackmail a random guy to solve her problem?"

"Oh really?" Arsene shrugged. "She somewhat reminds me of certain somebody."

"Who?"

"Oh, I have no idea." Alakazam pierced Kaito with his gaze.

"You better get ready." Kaito noticed a person with a wooden bat and Gardevoir suddenly appear in front of the shop. Zoroark quickly got up and together with Arsene started observing the supposed attacker.

"Both of you, stay here and get ready. Arsene, you'll teleport me there and after it's over get me back here. Carmen, hide my face." Kaito whispered while reaching to his pockets. After few seconds he took out two pokeballs and his phone. Mimikyu and Noivern appeared. "Milady, you'll help me take them out. We'll use the element of suprise to knock them out. Johanna, start flying and after they'll teleport try to find them."

"Wait. Why?" Alakazam glanced at him.

Johanna wasted no time, silently getting airborne.

"There's only one way to find out what's this about."

"Oh, for the love of Arceus. I lose the sight of your thoughts for two seconds and…"

The person swang their bat and Kaito quickly turned on the camera app. "Arsene!"

He immediately found himself in front of the shop. He turned the recording on and directed it to the attacker. "Smile for the camera. Shadow Claw, Milady."

"Wha… Moonblast!" The masked attacked shouted. Gardevoir focused and fired bright energy at Mimikyu, when shadows swiftly made their way to it and violently knocked it back. Milady's disguise broke, but she remained unharmed.

"I suggest you never come back here." Kaito quickly said, when Gardevoir weakly got of the ground. With quick glance at its trainer, both of them teleported away. 

Kaito recalled Milady and was teleported back at the rooftop.

"I got the footage. Did Johanna manage to spot them?" He hid his phone back into the pocket.

"Yes."

"Great. Carmen, hide us. Arsene, teleport us." Kaito looked into the sky at Johanna slowly flying near them. "I'll need to recall her, so get us close to her and…"

"This is not the first time." They were already floating under Johanna. Kaito quickly recalled her and in next second was on pavement.

Subsequently he was teleported every few seconds, following the attacker, who already recalled Gardevoir. It continued until the culprit reached somewhat big house near some park, and quickly got inside of it.

"Let's see." Kaito was teleported into a room, right behind the entrance door. The culprit quickly ran into the narrow hallway and entered one of the rooms, not bothering to close the door. 

Kaito silently hid right next to the door, looked inside and started recording with his phone.

"Why didn't you tell me that he has protection?" Said the attacker, who took off the mask. Now Kaito could clearly see that it was a woman, talking to a man sitting at the desk.

"Because he wasn't supposed to have any. But I assume that you took care of them as well."

"I didn't." The woman admitted hesitantly. The man looked at her angrily. "Not my fault. He forced me to retreat with just one attack." 

The man leaned back and let out a sight. "Whoever it was, he must be strong. You did a lot of jobs for me and not once had you any problems."

"No offense, but this guy's shop isn't a threat to you. Let's just leave him alone."

"I cannot do that." His voice betrayed annoyence. "I can't leave any lose ends. If you're still willing to continue the job, I'll increase the payment."

Kaito noticed a green shape quickly approaching him. The next thing he noticed was the pain in his right arm. Then he found himself on the pavement.

"What the hell?" He quickly glanced around.

"Calm down. Scyther attacked you." Arsene appeared next to him. Kaito felt panic when he noticed that Zoroark wasn't with them. "Carmen disguised herself to hide our presence. Don't worry, I hit the Scyther with Shadow Ball. She should be… There she is." He pointed to small Rattata climbing out of the opened window. It ran up to them and its image turned back into Zoroark. After that Kaito felt being teleported several times.

"It's ok now. We're far away." Arsene tried to telepathically sound calm, but Kaito could feel his rage and fear underneath the peaceful thoughts.

"That's good." He took out the phone and quickly made a phone call to Rachel.

"Hello? Who's this?" Her voice was tired and sleepy.

"Oh, I have no idea. Who did you blackmail tonight?" He said in cheeky tone.

"Wha… Oh, it's you!" She started to sound more awake. "It's… 2 AM. Couldn't you call me tomorrow?"

"No." He immediately replied.

"So did you do it?"

"Yea, but we need to meet."

"Uh… Why?"

"There was a… certain complication." He hesitated for a moment.

"And what could that be?" Arsene's thoughts made their way to Kaito's mind. He looked at him, just to see that he was staring daggers at him.

"Uh… Ok. I'll text you the address, but remember that if you try any…"

Kaito hung up with sigh. He started examining his wound, but he quickly came to conclusion that it was a shallow cut near his elbow, that already stopped bleeding. 

"Thanks." He thought with sincere gratitude. 

"No problem." Arsene was still a bit nervous, but he was slowly returning to his composed self. 

Kaito's phone received a text. He quickly looked up the address in online maps and started making his way there.

The streets were shrouded in darkness, except for ocasional street lights. Even though, other people were a rare sight, Carmen was still hiding them with illusions, just in case.

Kaito started breathing deeply, slowly regaining composure. If his Alakazam hasn't teleported him instantly, he would probably lose his arm to that Scyther. He knew well that their blade can cut through bones easily. He still remembered having to escape from them until Johanna evolved, back home.

Soon they found themselves standing before Rachel's place, that seemed to be a small house with two floors, one of many in the line of terraced houses on the street. It didn't have front yard, just small stairs, leading to the door.

After a while of ringing the bell, the door opened.

"Couldn't you meet me tomorr…" Rachel has peeked outside, but she fell silent as soon as she saw Kaito's arm. "What happened?"

"Can I come inside?"

"Yes." She replied after few seconds of silence and moved out of the way, glancing at Arsene and Carmen.

Kaito walked into the house and realised that the entrance door lead straight to the living room, with stairs leading up on the left side of the room with door under them, small couch and a TV to the right and small opened kitchen further across the room.

"So… What happened? Are you alright?" She hesitated.

Kaito showed her the stopped video, showcasing the man sitting at desk, who was talking to the attacker. "Do you recognise him?"

"Uh… Yes. He's the owner of the nearby bank. What about him?"

"He's the one sending thugs, or rather a thug on your uncle's shop."

"Why would he do that?"

"You're asking me?"

"Uhh…" Rachel closed her eyes and rubbed them for a while. "No offence, but can we talk about it tomorrow, after I return from work?"

Kaito looked at her. He was getting more and more annoyed, but he was trying not to show it. "Yes, of course." He said in the most polite tone he could imagine of. "We could talk about it, while drinking tea at the tea party, if you wish so."

Rachel slowly sighed. "Look. I'm tired right now and my work starts at eight o'clock, which means that I must get up at six. I'll be back home around three pm. Then I'll be properly awake, ok?"

Kaito didn't like it a bit, but he had no choice. "Fine."

"Wait here." Rachel told him, as she quickly walked upstairs.

"Great. We'll be waiting until three pm. Truly unbelievably good deal."

"Shush, Arsene. Remember that she still has the photos." Kaito rubbed his eyes. Now, that the adrenaline rush was slowly subsiding he realised how tired he was.

"I'm here." Rachel was slowly walking back them with few things in her hands. "You can sleep on the couch, just don't try to do anything…"

"Or your Rotom will upload my photos. I know."

"Good." She smiled. "Here. I brought you a blanket. Could you sit down. I'll put bandage over your cut."

"No, thanks. I'll do it myself."

"Oh, ok. I'll just put everything over here on the couch." When her hands were free, she quickly moved to the stairs. "Make yourself at home. Feel free to take anything from the fridge. See that door under staircase? It's the bathroom. Goodnight." She quickly returned upstairs, leaving Kaito and his pokemon alone.

"She wasted no time, huh?" Arsene thought.

Kaito quietly started to put bandages over his cut. After he was done, he put his backpack on the floor, right beside the couch. His sleepiness won over hunger and he laid on the couch, covering himself with blanket. Carmen quickly jumped onto the piece of furniture, snuggling herself to sleep like a cat, on the part of the couch that wasn't occupied.

Kaito glanced at Arsene, who was still looking around the room. "What about you?"

"I'll meditate for while." Arsene started floating with his eyes closed. "Just go to sleep, it won't take long."

Kaito felt a sting in his heart. He knew Arsene well, and he knew what was going on. "You don't need to keep a watch over us, you know that?"

"It's not a watch. It's just few moments of meditation. Don't mind me." 

"As you wish." He whispered, closing his eyes. The sleep came fast, taking all worries of his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Kaito's Team:  
Arsene - Alakazam  
Carmen - Zoroark  
Milady - Mimikyu  
Goemon - Golisopod  
Johanna - Noivern
> 
> When it comes to power of Kaito's team, I think that it's safe to say that it's overpowered. It's so strong, that having 5 pokemon, it's on similar level power-wise as regional champions. There's, of course, plot reason for this, but it will be revealed later on, just like other things that are only teased in this chapter.


End file.
